Chapter 7: That One Slytherin Girl

Nigel returned to the Gryffindor common room with the rest. It was quite a nice walk there since the corridors were empty except for a few students heading to the hospital wing and some others who were delivering messages to other teachers. In addition,Wally wasn't complaining about anything for once.

He had even started to work on some of his homework, even though it was boring doing it all by himself. Luckily, it didn't take long before Wally came back, kicking the floor and muttering under his breath.

"So?" he asked with curiosity. "What happened?"

Wally grumpily sat down on one of the armchairs near the fire and tried to ignore him.

"You got detention didn't you?" Nigel guessed instinctively.

Nigel knew that Wally got into trouble often since they had known each other for a long time. He remembered that he had defended him when some older kids where making fun of his accent when Wally had first arrived in Britain.

That was way back when they were eight, a little more than three years ago. Sure Wally was irritating at times, and he certainly wasn't too bright, but he trusted him to have his back.

Wally didn't answer, which proved his accusation correct.

"Oh, c'mon Wally! It's barely the first real day of school!"

Wally narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "It was those cruddy Mandrakes' fault. Proffesor Longbottom should've given us something easier."

Nigel sat in another chair oppsite his denying pal and sighed. "You can't just go about your life blaming anyone else but yourself. You just need to try harder next time, okay? We only have Charms left, so try not to mess up this time."

Wally didn't answer, but he didn't talk back either, so he took that as a yes.

He returned to the table where he continued on his homework, wondering if he should invite Wally over as well. He instantly decided not to; since when did Wallabee Beatles ever take orders from him? Or do his homework for that matter?

And so Nigel began to list the magical properties of a beazoar until the rest of the Gryffindors arrived for break before lunch.

He finished most of it before lunch, so he took a break to head down early since he was really hungry. Maybe it hadn't been a good choice though, because as he walked down the marble staircases, he felt like he was being watched.

Nigel didn't walk with Wally on their way to Charms class, since he seemed to be in an extremely bad mood. To be honest though, Nigel didn't mind. It felt nice to be interacting with some of the other Gryffindors, even though he steered clear of Fanny, who seemed to be alone most of the time.

He now knew why the Gryffindors hadn't welcomed her with open arms. She was a feminist, for one, and blamed boys for everything. She was also constantly bragging about her family and how her father was the Minister of Magic.

Once he reached his next lesson, he sat down next to Lance, a tall boy with fair skin and barely any hair, like himself, even though he knew he would never grow any again, who was in the same dorm. Wally sat behind with Caleb, a square-faced boy with a big nose and hair that looked like the hair cuts the muggle milatary had, who was also in their dorm.

To their disgust though, the Slytherins joined them shortly, a tight clump of Slytherin boys at the front, sniggering at one of the articles in the Daily Prophet, followed by a smaller gang of girls. They were all giggling at something one of them had said, a chubby girl with orange hair woven into two braids at her sides who wore big, round glasses.

Once everyone was seated, the teacher, Proffesor Simons, gave the class a warm welcome with a smile that could have blinded a moose.

"Good morning, students! My name is Proffesor Simons and I will be your Charms teacher for as long as you are here at Hogwarts! Since you guys are first years, I know that you are still new to the people around you, so I'm going to change that. For the rest of the year, you will be paired up with a student from a different house, in this case, Slytherin."

Shouts of disagreements arose from the whole class. Wally was so shocked by this that he climbed onto his table and took out his wand, although he didn't use it; not for the moment anyway.

Nigel was also dissappointed. Everyone in the school knew that the Gryffindors and Slytherins did not get along well.

The room eventually got so loud, that Proffesor Simons had to use a silencing charm for all of the students to finally shut up.

"Now, when I call your name, please step forward," she continued, although her tone had changed from cheery to slightly irritated. The class appeared to have sighed all at once, and then the pairs started to be organized.

Caleb ended up with Runt, a short kid, just like Wally, but with a wicked smile plastered on his face, and who looked much more intimidating. Fanny was paired up with a big guy named Lunk who was much more scared of her than she was of him.

"Mister Uno?"

Nigel reluctantly grabbed his bag and walked to the front of the class. He waited patiently, hoping he wasn't paired up with some of the more scary-looking Slytherins.

"You will be paired up with Miss Divine."

The girl Nigel had seen earlier stepped forward, giving him an awkward smile. Well, she didn't seem too bad. She had at least smiled.

Proffesor Simons pointed to a table at the back at the room, and Nigel and his new partner sat down at it. They didn't speak to each other, but the silence became a silent agreement to try to get along.

Wally got paired up with some kid named Goof with buck teeth and an elongated face, and Lance ended up sitting with Wilbur, a not as short boy with messy dark blonde hair.

Once everyone was given their new seats, Proffesor Simons taugth them a levitating charm, and instructed them to practice on a feather.

Nigel instinctively brought out his wand and started to practice alongside his partner who had trouble at first, but got the hang of it eventually.

Nigel, on the other hand, couldn't quite do it right. His feather kept floating up for a few seconds, then fell down as hard as a feather could possibly fall.

The girl kept looking sideways at him, but Nigel ignored her. He wanted to prove to that girl that he could do it without any help.

On his next try, he nearly got it right, but fell short when he stumbled with his wand. This seemed to be the last straw of her patience because she suddenly grabbed his arm and steadied it, putting it in the right position.

Nigel, too shocked to say anything stared at her like a dumby.

"You're saying it wrong. Try elongating the 'o'. That should help," she suggested, looking away to make sure no one else was watching.

"Um, okay."

Nigel tried it again, this time taking her advice and his feather finally levitated off the table. He wasn't surprised, but he couldn't help but stare at her.

She quickly looked away, and they didn't speak for the rest of the class.

When class was over, she was the first to get up, yet he found himself grasping her wrist. To his immense luck, no one else noticed.

"I'm Nigel," he murmured, blushing furiously because of what he had just done.

"Lizzie," she simply replied before she left, leaving Nigel dumbstruck in his chair. So much that Wally had to go pick him up before he could even move.

As they walked back to their common room, Nigel couldn't help but ignore his friend's rants and think about the way he had acted towards Lizzie.